Her Survival
by CHPrime
Summary: Robin promised Chrom that she would not sacrifice herself to stop Grima. A month later, She returns to Ylisstol, much to Chrom's dread.
1. Chrom

Disclaimer: all properties used belong to their owners.

* * *

"Robin!"

"I need…time…to adjust…"

"Robin, please-"

"I'll be back…when I know I can control myself."

Those were the last words his wife had spoken before she had vanished after the climactic battle with Grima. It had been nearly a month since then, and Chrom still had not herd so much as a word about his wife, even with scouts reporting back to Ylisstol from all across the continent almost everyday. Not even Naga could say exactly where Robin had gone to when he had asked the goddess after the battle. The Divine Dragon soon left, telling the Shepherds to be wary of her return.

It had been sometime after the sun had set that Chrom had finally finished his duties as Exalt for the day with his mind perpetually distracted by Robin's absence, the worried looks and a half asked question from everyone he met served as a constant reminder for Chrom, who had decided to not spread panic by simply saying that Robin had disappeared in a burst of flame from the fell dragon's maw.

He was not the only one that had a distant feeling of worry. All the Shepherds shared the same sense of worry at her disappearance, and fear of her return, most especially Lucina. She had spoken to Chrom after the Shepherds return to Ylisstol about the future children's joint decision to disappear from their parent's lives after a final goodbye, but now, they did not know when, or if, they would be able to.

The worry that Chrom saw on the Shepherds faces came in two shapes. The first was the kind he possessed, shared by all the shepherds in his generation. It was a dull feeling that most of the time just settled In the back of their minds as they went about there daily lives, but then swept through them whenever someone brought Robin up, content to give them small pause before proceeding.

The feeling was much more visable on the faces of all the future children, who had no true duties to attend, wandering half in the shadows of Ylisstol. They always could be found participating in the various activities that had been denied to them in the bleak future, from dancing and music to various street games, or in the more antisocial members cases, watching others perform them fondly. But at the end of each day they all wore similar faces, having just remembered that they did not truly belong, and, that in a moment, all of it would be taken away from them one way or another.

Chrom shook away these thoughts as he rounded the corridor leading to his infant daughter's nursery. He had missed far too much of Lucina's childhood already, and had no plans of spending his time with her worrying himself away. As he came to the door, one of Lucina's maids arrived at the other end of the hallway.

"Oh, Hello." Chrom called out to the maid. "Is Lucina already asleep?"

"No milord," the maid responded. "She was particularly energetic today. I just came back from putting one of her messes in the laundry."

"She is in her crib then?"

"Yes milord, I put her there when I went out a few minutes ago, as she was beginning to tire."

"Mmm… I think I will put her to bed tonight then. Feel free to retire."

"Thank you milord." The maid bowed, and after a moment of hesitation with her mouth open, turned to leave.

Chrom exhaled, and again turned to the door, his hand gently pressing the door open so not to disturb Lucina. As he began to gently open the door, Chrom did not hear any sound from inside the room, and assuming Lucina was already asleep, made a swift, quiet move, stepped into the nursery, and closed the door.

The nursery itself was a rather large room, full of toys for Lucina to play with, and lined with windows as tall as the room, overseeing the most picturesque view of the city below. No candles were lit, and the curtains were not yet drawn, so what little light that was in the room came from the rising moon and murky stars. Chrom turned to face Lucina's crib-

The fear that had been just below the surface of Chrom's mind suddenly exploded, numbing his body and stopping his heart. His eyes widened, his face awash with countless emotions, but the terror on his face was by far the most pronounced. Standing next to a sleeping Lucina's crib, with her back turned to him, was Robin, her pale hair looking just the same as it did the morning of the final battle, and her Grimleal coat the same as it had been when she and Chrom had first met.

As Robin gently leaned on the cribs railings, Chrom continued to stare at her in a fearful stupor. After what felt like hours, Chrom took a breath and then called out to her.

"R-robin?"

Robin raised her head from Lucina's crib, but did not turn. Another moment passed at an hour's pace, and Chrom spoke up again.

"Robin, is that you?"

Robin turned around, and Chrom was instantly drawn to her eyes. No longer were they brown in color, but a striking, glowing red, illuminating Robin's face against the moonlight. So shocking was this change that Chrom was entranced by their glow, finding it impossible to break eye contact with Robin.

And then, with a single, soft-spoken word, his wife broke the spell of her eyes. "Yes."

Chrom finally tore his eyes from hers, and gazed at the rest of her. Her face was still the same, with the same striking features that it always had, still wore the same cloths she always had, and her hair was styled with the same two tails she always had.

"Is…Lucina asleep?" Chrom asked quietly. While his features had calmed, the fear in him far from satisfied.

Robin seemed quite pleased with the question. She turned her head to gaze at Lucina with a small smile forming on her lips. "Yes."

Hesitantly, Chrom continued. "How-I mean-" "Ssshhh." Robin put her finger to her lips, and Chrom almost immediately stopped, and had to stop himself from reaching for the sword at his belt that was not there.

Robin looked quite uncomfortable with Chrom's immediate silence, as her brows furrowed and a frown came across her face. Trying to regain his voice, Chrom quietly asked her "…can we talk somewhere?"

"Where would you like to go?"

"Err…our room maybe…?"

Robin held out her hand, an expectant look on her face. Chrom hesitated, and a question formed on his lips.

"You don't want me to be seen by anyone on our way to our bedroom." Robin reminded him.

"You're going to, what, turn us invisible?"

Robin snorted out a laugh. "No, I am going to teleport us there." This still did not sway Chrom to take his wife's hand, and a frown returned to her face.

"Chrom." Her tone became scolding and familiar, one she always used when explaining something he should have known. "If I wanted to hurt you, or anyone else, they would already be dead."

That small assurance sent another jolt of fear down Chrom's spine, but at the same time, Robin's logic also put his mind at ease. With his shaking arm, Chrom reached out to place his palm in his wife's unmoving hand.

With a flash of light, Chrom and Robin appeared right in the center of the Exalts quarters, just at the foot of the bed. The room was also quite dark, with nothing but the pale moonlight shining through the windows. Chrom hesitantly removed his hand from Robins, who gave no resistance, and moved her hand back to her side, her unblinking gaze never leaving Chrom.

With a deep breath, Chrom steeled himself for the coming battle in his mind. He would not allow any stray word to slip by him.

"Robin…" he began. "What happened to you? Just…what happened?"

"I kept my promise, Chrom. I promised you that I would survive the battle, and I did."

"By becoming Grima!? Robin-"

"I did not become Grima." Robin's tone accommodated no argument against her words. "When the final blow was about to be struck, Grima became desperate, realizing death was on the horizon, and made one last bid for my body and mind. But I won that struggle. Grima was not strong enough to overcome me after so many previous failed attempts, and was washed away against my power. Instead of me becoming Grima, Grima became I, and with it, I claimed all of Grima's power."

Chrom's fear was rapidly fading, settling into something that was no quite comfort. He continued on questioning.

"What happens now?"

Robin tilted her head at the question. "Now?"

"What happens the Grimleal? The Shepherds? Us?"

"The Grimleal's hierarchy was all but destroyed in this last war." Robin said matter-of-factly. "There will be quite a lot of time before they have the numbers to do much of anything again."

"And the rest of Plegia?"

"They all still work under the state religion of Grima. I hear all there prayers, and respond when I wish to."

"You can hear everyone who prays to you?" Chrom asked, more curious now.

"Yes. Like Naga, from what I have heard." Robin paused, looking for words to describe the feeling. "It is a rather strange feeling…when I first heard them, I thought I would go mad from hearing every little prayer from every worshiper I had gained. But it is actually become very manageable. I just had to get over the initial shock of it."

"That's what you have been getting the hang of all this time?"

In answer, Robin's hand opened, and a dark light flared up in her palm, its glow, overshadowing the glow in her eyes. "Among other things." She closed her hand, and the light faded.

"About the rest of Plegia…" Chrom began. "What are they going to do? Won't they feel the need to avenge Grima, or their dead friends and family again?"

"My worship does not lend it to chaos and destruction as easily as you might think Chrom." Robin explained as she always had. "The tenants of religion are not so far away from Naga's. If you base an entire religion on destruction, and expect to rule a country for a thousand years, it will not end well. Undoubtedly knowing this, the first Grimleal no doubt based the religion on order and cooperation much like all others. The destruction of the world was just the end goal when I rose again. As far the people go…some seek revenge. Most don't. I hear as much everyday, and from those who responded when I proclaimed to them that I was not interested in destroying the world anymore."

"All of Plegia knows you're alive!?" Chrom exclaimed.

"There was a panic after my predecessors defeat, and only so many people were listening. I tried again after the panic had subsided." Robin bit her lip and her eyes wandered in contemplation, half lost in her own thoughts. "It seems I can only speak to people who are listening for me." The focus that had left her eyes returned in an instant. "The nation as a whole seems content to just grieve for the dead at this point. A new ruler will be chosen eventually, and life will return to how it once was. I would also advise not to push your luck with a third war anytime soon."

"I would never plan to." Chrom once again steeled himself for a question neither wanted to ask. "Robin…What…what is to stop you from…?" Chrom trailed off, not certain how to end such a question.

Robin's eyes narrowed, the glow from her intensifying. "Destroying everything?" her tone betrayed no emotion as she waited for Chrom to answer.

A feeling of shame entered Chrom's mind, having to ask these questions to his wife. "…Yes."

"The same thing that keeps Naga from destroying the world, I suppose." Robin responded with the same tone as before, unmoving as ever. "And the power that let me defeat Grima in the first place."

"What power?" Chrom questioned.

Robin looked at her husband with a rare sincerity, a look Chrom had seen on her face only two other times, once on their wedding night when they had shared to each other their secret hopes and dreadful fears that awaited them in their future together. The other time was after Lucina's birth when they had told each other all they hoped their child would be in a few glances and fewer words.

"You, of course."

That single look convinced Chrom that the woman standing before him was indeed his wife, and not some overelaborate illusion crafted by Grima to destroy Ylisstol. He rushed to his wife and embraced her, holding Robin tight against his chest.

"R-robin, I-"

"Hush love." Robin cut him off, her face buried in his shoulder. "You don't need to say anything."

They stood there for quite some time, simply embracing each other, until finally Chrom's worries caught up in his mouth and he broke the silence. "How do you want to tell everyone else?"

Robin looked up at him with her eyebrow raised. "Like I just told you…?"

"I mean, they might have a harder time believing, and especially Fredrick, you know him…and what are we going to do with Lucina and-" the words died on his lips as Robin reached up and kissed him, his worry waning as his deep buried longing continued to take over.

"Don't worry so much." Robin's red eyes bore into his own with a grater power then they ever had before. "Lucina is sleeping away in her crib. Everyone else will soon follow." Robin's voice had a calming, supernatural effect on Chrom, as his worries seemed to fade away with his wife at his side.

"We have tonight just to ourselves for the first time in many months." Robin said. "I promised you I would not sacrifice myself, and here I am. Tomorrow, I will answer everyone. But tonight-" Robin broke her gaze into Chrom's eyes, and kissed a trail to her husbands ear the way only she knew.

Whispering softly to Chrom, Robin sent shivers down her husband's spine. "-I am no longer just your queen. I expect to be treated as your goddess."

* * *

Author's Note: I have been reading through awakening fanfics for the better part of a year now, and never really found one that had the same idea I did. So thought I would add my own poorly thought out idea to the pile. Please review so I might not offend you with my terrible writing as much next time.


	2. Lucina

Disclaimer: all properties used belong to their owners.

* * *

Lucina cried when her father had died. Not because of the death (It would be some time until the news reached her), but because her right eye ached. It burned in its socket for hours on end, calling out to her, screaming with a hate that would shatter mountains, and no matter how hard she shut her eye, the pain continued. No matter how much Lucina scratched at it, she could not rip it and its dull throb out of her. The pain continued on and on, altogether different from the bloody cuts her eyelid endured.

Tharja found the Lucina at her door, begging her to rip the princess's eye out. Tharja was stunned, and after a moment of just staring at the eye, spirited Lucina away to her laboratory. The pain continued on as Tharja rushed in and out, ordering servants to fetch her strange ingredients, books plundered over a thousand years of war with Plegia, and The only one of you idiots who could make themselves even remotely useful, in her words. Lucina had her arms and legs bound to stop her from scratching her eye, the blood from her cuts long since wiped away, and the cuts healed. But her eye still burned, and the pain would still not go away.

Then, a feeling like a thick, damp blanket smothered Lucina and the pain. Her senses dulled, and the dreadful urge to rip her eye out faded, simmering underneath the cold blanket like a fever she still had not overcome.

"-Just like that!" Henry's friendly voice sounded, and Lucina turned her head to look. Henry was standing next to her, cackling with both of his hands outstretched and alight with dark magic.

"M…ist…er…He…nry…?" Lucina choked out. Henry kept laughing, and as he kept laughing, the more forced the sound became. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and Lucina tried to become very scared, or cry out, but the feeling weighed her down so much that her mouth and mind began to fail her. Tharja's robed hand slammed down on her right eye, and Lucina faded into unconsciousness.

When she awoke in her bed, the muffled feeling that had smothered her entire body was now only in her eye. The pain was still there, but it had become muted, like her mind after a restless sleep.

Henry sat next to her, a frown on his usual ever-cheerful face, and his eyes open, staring into Lucina's face.

Lucina had never seen Henry like this. "Mister Henry?" she called out. "Why are you sad?"

"…Hey kiddo." Henry responded slowly, and moved to stand at the same pace. "Something bad happened to you."

"Was it a curse like you and miss Tharja can do? Didn't you fix it? Won't it go away now?"

"…This particular curse can't be broken." Henry explained. "It's going to be with you for the rest of your life."

"But-my eye-it doesn't hurt so much anymore! You fixed it! I just need to get better from being sick!" Lucina shot out of her bed. "You fixed it-"

"Lucina, Listen to me." Henry put his hand on her shoulder, calming Lucina down. Gently, he pushed her back down to rest. "The curse- well. It isn't so much a curse as-" Henry stopped himself, and looked past Lucina's eyes for a moment, his expression lost. After a few seconds his eyes returned to hers. "The details are…I will tell you them exactly later. For now, just know that this isn't any ordinary curse. You were in pain for almost a full day-"

"A day!?" Lucina interrupted. Henry nodded.

"A day. You've been asleep for several more." Henry gave her a moment to digest the information, and then continued. "It goes deeper then a normal curse. Its in your very blood, and will be with you till you die. And if you ever have children, they will also inherit it."

The news terrified Lucina, who stared into Henry's eyes for any sign that this was all some horrible joke he was playing on her, the ones her father would always mutter about when filling out papers while her mother and Tharja laughed about (her mother and Missis Tharja had a really mean idea of funny), but found no trace of something like it on Henry's face.

"Tharja and I will make you a potion to drink. It will keep the pain away like it is right now." Henry explained. "The measure we have taken will last you through the rest of the year, or at least it should. Once that time comes around, we'll give you a second helping, and then a third the year after that. If it ever acts up before that, tell us immediately. Do you understand?"

Lucina nodded, quietly thinking over her situation. Her thoughts drifted over Henry's words each sentences sheer weight slowly sinking into her brain. From having to drink a potion every year just so she could live with one numb eye instead of screaming out in pain, to her far future children having to endure the same, to the fact that the curse was in her very blood…her blood?

Lucina's head shot up again. "Mister Henry! If the curse is in my blood, is it in Morgan's, or mother or father's!?"

Henry blinked in surprise, clearly not prepared for the question. "Ah..."

He remained silent for a time, and Lucina's heart skipped a beat as her eyes watered. Henry waved his hands in front of him as if to dispel her fears. "No, no, no- no. Your parents are fi-ne-" he paused to suck in his breath. "Well, they aren't affected by the curse."

"And my brother?" Lucina pressed. Henry exhaled, and in a small voice said: "Your brother, Morgan that is-"

Henry looked at Lucina's face and realizing that he could not hide the truth for very long. "Morgan has disappeared." Lucina's eyes widened, and Henry rapidly added "But everyone who can is looking for him. We will find him soon enough." (They never did.)

That brought a little hope to Lucina. "O-oh." She paused briefly, and the spoke up again. "You said you know that Mother and Father were not affected?"

Trying not to sound wary of the subject, Henry responded. "Yes…"

"Are they on their way back from the war? Did they defeat the big baddie together and then the bad guy cursed me and-and-" Lucina had to stop herself. "W-well, what I mean is, is, is mother and father finally back?" hope she expected to brake rang out in her voice.

Henry remained silent for a time, contemplating something. And with each passing minute, he saws Lucina's face fall. "W-well I thought that-I mean I guess they were just close by because of a supply trip, or something, and they might have visited me when I was asleep, and…" Her words trailed off, the long buried terror in her heart rising with each passing breath.

"Lucina…" Henry finally decided to speak, his words dripping with sadness. "I know that your parents aren't affected by your condition because-" Time suddenly stopped in Lucina's mind, her eyes wide, her mouth ready to scream, her ears refusing to hear.

"-They died."

With those two words, time resumed. And Lucina exploded. Tears fell from her eyes, she screamed louder then she ever could have, and she punched and kicked and thrashed out at the world for its cruelty, until hours later when she finally fell, exhausted and dry in Henry's embrace. (The news got considerably worse from that moment on.)

Henry and Tharja's promised potion was delivered to her annually after that, as they taught not only her, but their own children, Gerome and Noire, how to make, preserve, and prepare the brew. Their mentorship turned invaluable once parents died in a few short years to the Fell Dragon's forces, along with so many others. And so every year, the three children would make certain to properly measure the potion down so it might last Lucina an extra year or two, as several ingredients outright disappeared from the world. The event was a somber affair, serving as a reminder to lost family, and an ominous clock until Lucina finally collapsed screaming in agony one final time. All throughout the years, her right eye remained in perfect working order, but in not a single moment did Lucina ever feel anything other then that dull, muted throb of pain behind it.

But that changed during Ylisstol's fall. The Fell Dragon, having destroyed the castle and what remained of the people, contented itself with mocking the last Exalt of a ruined land.

_**"Your Mother and Father are dead, Tiny one."**_

Throughout the battle, Lucina's right eye had ached and burned, but now it was exploding with the pain she first felt.

_**"And now it is your turn…TO DIE!"**_

Lucina screamed. Her eye burst into a pain far worse then she had ever imagined, and she fell into darkness.

To this day, Lucina had no idea how she had survived, nor did any of her comrades. Gerome and Noire had found her sprawled across the ruined floor of the castle, moaning in pain and scratching at her eyes. They tried everything they could think of to make her stop, but Lucina continued to claw and scratch. Finally, in a fit of desperation, Gerome had forced the remaining five years of the potion down her mouth. While her hands still twitched, Lucina finally stopped hurting herself and rested. When Lucina awoke to the horizon of her dead country and barely a dozen friends still alive along with the somber realization that she may not last the year, she began to fight for a way out of the Grima's reign the way only a tortured prisoner knew how. As soon as Lucina learned of an escape route to the distant past, she immediately jumped to take it, desperation and even long forgotten hope flaring in her heart.

Once she was in the past, and after overcoming that emotional ride that was meeting her mother and father in their youth, Lucina noticed an absence in her, and not an unwelcome one.

For the first time in years, the pain in her eye disappeared.

Lucina was downright overjoyed at the news, to be finally free of the dull throb. Free from the pain.

It must have been Grima's doing. Lucina had few doubts in that theory before as Tharja or Henry never truly got around to explaining the pain entirely, but now that theory was a steel-clad belief. As an added bonus, it was one more reason to destroy Grima forevermore.

As the years in her parents youth passed buy, the pain never did return. When Lucina reunited with Gerome and Noire, she shared her news much to Noire's delight. Gerome however was pragmatic as ever, and slowly gathered all the ingredients that had been lost in the future, contacting his father and Tharja to help him make the potion. But one day, the pain did return. When Lucina stood on Grima's back, the pain appeared once again. It was nowhere near what it was when the Fell Dragon had mocked her, nor was it close to the pain that had first plagued her. Now it was sharp, like a dagger that had through her hand. She fought through the feeling, determined to strike the Fell Dragon down and never feel it again. Gerome and Noire noticed the twitch of her hands, swore, and brought their weapons up in Lucina's defense.

Then Grima made the final gambit. The pain started to wane, reduced to the same muted feeling it had been under the potion, until it finally disappeared along with Grima, and her mother.

Lucina nonetheless brought her hand up to block her eye from the rest of the world, still sensing something off with it. She kept it closed until she reached Ylisse, still fearing what she knew ley beneath her eyelid. Gerome and Noire reminded her that she could take the potion as soon as they properly prepared it (their parent's inexperience at potion making and their own faulty memory of the exact process to make the brew from its base ingredients had put it back a few months).

And as soon as Lucina had found a time away from everyone, even her father, she ran to a mirror in her room and slowly opened her right eye with trembling hands dry lips.

Her eye was as blue as it had ever been. From a distance, someone could even miss Lucina's' new brand. Now, staring back at Lucina in her right eye with six cruel etchings was the mark of Grima.

Lucina screamed and shattered the mirror, refusing to accept the brand as her own. The only reason she did not stab out her eye then and there was Gerome and Noire's intervention, having burst out of her shadow.

For the next month she hid her eye away from the world, covering her damning mark with an eypatch. She spent all of her time trying to be alone, driving her body to exhaustion to try and prepare herself for a storm that she knew was coming. Much to her annoyance, Noire, Gerome, and their parents always were able to find her. The elder generation came to her to ask for her memories on the potion, which she gave to them as quickly as she could. Gerome and Noire always came to try and comfort her, and Lucina always brushed them away, only interested in taking the potion so she might go back to hiding her eye. Gerome was always the more stubborn of the two to try and drag Lucina out of her melancholy, which amused Lucina.

Other times Morgan would find her, asking for Chrom if Lucina could come out of the shadows. For the most part Lucina refused, only socializing with her father and brother twice in the month.

It was apparent enough to see in her eyes that the ordeal was also affecting her sleep. Lucina was quite used to tired nights and restlessness, but the bags forming under eyes made it quite apparent to everyone that the worry that had plagued the Shepherds after Robin's disappearance was affecting her with a far stronger grip.

Finally, after a month of hiding away from the world, another change forced itself over Lucina. Wandering from one distant corner of Ylisstol to another well into the night had been taking its toll on Lucina for quite some time, but this night the feeling of exhaustion had set in far earlier, and was far stranger. Lucina felt a presence that would not reveal itself, but was intimately familiar to her, echoing a sweet cry from within her eye. The jarring shift disturbed Lucina, memories of her long since passed childhood echoing in her mind. It told her to rest, and forget all her worries for the night, as they would still be there in the morning, but forgetting them would grant her a peaceful sleep. Lucina fought against the feeling, but she could not remember the last time she had ever gone to sleep without some worry clouding her mind and tormenting her dreams. From fitful sleeps full of images with her parents dying apart as the risen tore them apart, to desperate nightmares of clawing at her eye, to the countless dead that piled the streets. They had followed Lucina into the past, tormenting her with her failures to change the world, another lost battle for the future mounting on top of another.

With such a heavy weight upon her mind, Lucina could only resist for so long against the sleep. Within minutes, she collapsed onto her bed, barely strong enough to pull the sheets over her, and was swept away to the first peaceful sleep she had since her early childhood.

When Lucina awoke, she awoke with her body no longer aching, eyes no longer drooping, and her mind which felt clearer then it had been in months. As she rose up from the bed and threw off the confines of her sheets, Lucina turned her mind to the feeling she had last evening.

The presence that had softly pulled Lucina to bed could still be felt. She could feel it in the eye that had caused her so much pain in her life, but now the feeling was soft, comforting. The juxtaposition was jarring, to say the least.

Lucina grabbed her sword and stepped out of her room. She moved as a ghost through the castle halls, morning's light already shining above the clouds. The servants of the castle were roaming the castle, moving about their respected duties as they always did. There curious glances had long since faded to the back of Lucina's mind, but as she had made a habit of, Lucina hid her right eye from everyone that she passed.

as she passed nearby her younger self's nursery, she could feel a barrier around it, protecting the corridor from intrusion. The magic was unmistakable, and Lucina rushed to her quarry.

In a silent rush, Lucina stood before the door that separated her from Robin, she could feel it. As she heard her younger self's cries muffled echo through the door, Lucina steeled herself for what was undoubtedly the final confrontation between her and the Fell Dragon.

With a flash, Lucina drew Falchion and kicked open her Nursery door. With a loud crash the heavy door slammed against the wall, silencing the child Lucina's gleeful cries as both mother and daughter stared at another.

Robin's eyebrows were raised slightly, as her new red eyes half glowed with amusement, and half dimmed with surprise as she held her daughter close.

The younger Lucina simply stared at her elder counterpart with a bewildered expression only babes could give, their mirrored eyes crossing briefly.

Lucina's knuckles whitened as she gripped Falchion, for once at a loss at what to do. Just now she realized in all her time spent preparing for this confrontation with Robin, she actually had no plan. Unwilling to lose the thunder in her arrival, cleared her throat and spoke.

"…Robin." No other words came out of Lucina's mouth, as she still had no idea how to confront Robin, who continued to gaze at her. The silence continued past the point of initial danger, and settled into awkwardness. Still, both speakers did not change their expression, Lucina desperately trying to think of how to proceed, and Robin seemingly lost in thought. The young Lucina just stared back and forth between the two, unsure of what to make of anything.

"It's good to see you, Lucina." Robin finally broke the silence. "I apologize for my absence and any worry I caused you-"

"My eye." Lucina quickly cut Robin off, having finally found the words that escaped her. "You put me to sleep through it last night."

"Yes, I did." Robin's words help no shame or sorrow in them, simply stating the facts.

"Why!?" Lucina snarled, raising Falchion above her waist. Her younger self shrank back into Robin's arms, who quickly whispered comforts into the child's ear.

"What did you do when I was asleep? Who's body should I be looking for!?" Lucina's voice was rising in volume, Robin's admittance to the act reinforcing her dark suspicions. "Why did you w-"

This time, Lucina was cut off. "I put you to sleep because you were exhausted." Robin said, annoyance edging into her voice.

Lucina did not back down. "You had to have done something. I know it."

"Lucina, I talked to your father last night. That's all."

"And you put me to sleep so you could talk to him for as long as you wanted, uninterrupted."

Robin gave Lucina a weary look. "Lucina, you're being ridiculous. I told Chrom last night and I will tell you today, if I wanted anyone dead, they would already be. And if I were Grima, both you and Chrom would top that list. Why on earth would I waste time gaining your trust when I could just kill you both outright?"

Lucina's nostrils flared, and she shouted: "I can't just accept that! You just ran away from us after the battle, doing gods know what for a month! Grima could have come up with any number of overcomplicated revenge plots in that time, and so could have anyone else!"

Lucina, I have told your father, I will tell everyone else, and I will tell you: I am not Grima." Robin's voice was calm, but just underneath the surface of her words a frustration was boiling as she softly stroked the young princesses hair.

"I can't accept that!" Lucina's voice had seemed to reach a fervor pitch, but still it climbed higher. "I will not accept that Grima or anyone using its power just decided to stop fighting! I saw Grima's forces tear apart my home, my country, my friends and my family!"

"Lucina, I would never let Grima control-"

"My mother said the same thing to me!" Robin blinked, taken aback for the first time in the conversation. "She said that all her magic was the strongest, that it would protect her from the Grimleal, that she was invincible, that she would never let anything happen to me, or Father or anyone! And then she loses, and Grima does away with everything she said would last forever without a monument pause!"

Robin remained silent, eyes still wide. Young Lucina began to whimper. Lucina finally slowed down, speaking in a far more controlled voice. "Grima always made certain to torture me through my eye. I had to take a potion just to keep the pain away. But it was still always there." Her eyes narrowed, and Falchion rose further. "Ever since you disappeared, this mark-" Lucina gestured to her eye, snarling in disgust. "Has just been mocking me, laughing at my failure to completely eradicate Grima's evil."

Robin's silenced stretched on, as she quietly stood in front of Lucina. Then suddenly, she spoke. "My offer is still open."

Lucina blinked. "What?"

"If it will allow you to live in happiness." Robin cooed to the young Lucina, gently putting her down in the crib, and turned to face her daughter from the future.

Lucina stared wide-eyed at her Robin, and her sword hand trembled in her grasp. She really was reaching for a reason to kill Robin, nor would Lucina kill her mother in front of her past self. To cause such pain to herself all over again was unthinkable. Slowly, Lucina sheathed her sword. Still, she could not find it within herself to look at Robin as her mother.

"We are going to leave soon." Lucina spoke softly, unwilling to allow emotion pass by her face. "All of us from the future that is."

"Plegia is in need of a ruler," Robin supplied as she reached down to pick up her daughter. "Next to me, you have one of the greater claims to the throne-"

"No." Lucina snapped. "I'm not Plegian. Nor are any of the others." It seemed like Robin wanted to retort. But she held her tongue. "Plegia sided with Grima, worshipped Grima. It claimed all of our friends, and all of our parents. As soon as we can, we're going to the gates of time. We will try and find a home there."

Lucina gazed to a very far away place. "Maybe we will find the future we came from there. I wonder what has happened to it."

"…Lucina." Robin spoke. "Over this past month, I remembered my past." Lucina's eye flickered to Robin. "I remember being the young woman who would become your mother. I was all brashness with everything to prove after my own mother died."

"You should tell Chrom this."

"I did." Sensing Lucina's impatience, Robin skipped over much of her own nostalgia. "I remember my own father from when I was just old enough to remember things. Your grandfather-" Lucina twitched. Robin noticed, and continued. "Your grandfather was nothing like you know him. He was very kind to your grandmother and I, and actively tried to be a positive influence in my life before your grandmother spirited me away. Even years later when I asked my mother about him, she admitted he would never have settled for anything but the best upbringing I could have had."

"Is there a point to this?" Lucina asked, her voice agitated.

"Yes." Robin responded, calm as always. "The point is, just because something you thought was a bad thing doesn't mean that it always has to be that. And just because someone did something terrible, that does not mean that they always were, or will be. During my month of meditation, I realized, no matter how much I might deny it, Plegia was and always will be my home, and Validar is my father. I am Plegian. You and your brother are just as much of Plegia as you are of Ylisse. You are both children of Naga, and my children. No matter what, I will always protect you."

Lucina was silent at that. After many minutes quietly thinking, she said. "…I can't be. She might be." The young princess had resumed staring at both women. "But I refuse to be Grima's daughter." Lucina turned and walked out to the hall, her path unbarred.

Robin called out to her. "You can't run from your past Lucina. You will only make more of it as you stumble and trip away, until eventually something catches up to you."

Lucina turned back to Robin with solemn purpose in her tired eyes. "If you ever hurt anyone, I will return to stop you, no matter what."

Robin's glowing red eyes met her gaze, and she said in a small, trembling voice, "Be safe." Lucina turned, and walked down the hallway towards whatever the future held.

* * *

Author's note: I am told that there was more demand for this stories continuation. Here is my attempt after lost chapters lovely little night. As for Validar, I always thought that if Awakening was going to copy the Blazing Blade's plot, they could have at least expand on that stories most interesting and vague parts. Alas.


	3. Morgan

All properties used belong to their owners.

Chapter two has been edited, as I realized that ambiguity for its own sake was a stupid idea, and that what few threads might have come of it were the exact opposite of the story I wanted this to be.

* * *

"Hello Lucina!" Morgan called out, causing his sister to jump.

"Morgan! How did you!?" Lucina had barely been seen by anyone in the past few days, and Chrom, worried much like any parent would be, had asked Morgan if he knew where his sister was hiding. Morgan, like everyone else in the castle, had been in an anxious mood, and to take his mind away from his mother's disappearance had set out to find where his sister was hiding.

"Well, you are pretty untrained in magic. It's pretty easy to find you." Morgan stated.

"With magic?" Lucina asked.

"Yeah, sort of."

"…That's it? You just found me with your magic? I thought you only knew how to cast spells in battle."

"Well I can only cast battle spells," Morgan answered. "But there's another kind of, well, instinct I have. It's a sort of prickling along my skin, just a feeling of closeness to something magical- have you ever had a feeling like that?"

"Near Mount Prism…and the Table, I thought that I felt…" The second subject was clearly a stressful one to Lucina, as her eyes narrowed and fists clenched. Morgan had no such animosity, and continued.

"Yeah, there was a lot of magical energy in both those places. I guess you also felt Naga's appearance at the mountain, and Grima's at the temple?"

"I felt Naga through my brand…" Lucina replied.

"Me too, with Grima as well." Morgan pulled back both his sleeves, revealing the marks of both dragons upon his forearms. "Anyway. Whenever magic that belonged to Grima or Naga was near, their marks had a weird sort of feeling to it. Naga's gave a sort of distant feeling, and Grima's was always…familiar, I guess is the right word."

Morgan paused to smile at Lucina. "I guess all our battles with the risen now and in the future became something of a routine if I get a feeling like that, huh?"

Lucina's voice was rather small, and her face had a worried look on it for some reason. "…I suppose."

"…Yeah." Morgan's smile faltered at Lucina's face, but he quickly continued on. "U-um, anyway, you have both of their magic in your eyes," Lucina's eyebrows twitched ever so slightly. "So I just have to focus on the feeling in both my marks, and I can find you. It works for Father to!"

"…And Mother…?"

Morgan made a frustrated grunt. "Well, I've been trying but Mother is keeping herself hidden. I can feel that she's there, but not where she is. Her magic is hiding itself."

Lucina gave a tired sigh and returned to training, as she had been before Morgan distracted her. Her movements were precise, sharp, and near flawless, as they always were, but there was something dragging them down, an unseen aggression and restlessness that gave her sword strokes a frantic edge.

"…Oh, yeah! I remember- Father asked for me to find you."

Lucina paused in her routine and turned to Morgan again. "What does he want?"

"Well, he said that he was worried about you. Nobody has really seen you since we got back." Morgan looked around at his surroundings for the first time, and from every angle, a wall of trees stood before him. "I'm not sure how I even got here."

Lucina sighed, sheathing her sword. "I'm fine Morgan. I'm just thinking. Tell father that I'm sorry that I worried him, and I will be sure to talk with him soon."

"Okay." Morgan said as he turned to leave, but abruptly stopped. "Um, Lucina?"

"Yes?"

"Could you help me return to Ylissetol?"

"I'm going to leave near sundown. Can't you just sense father or Owain's brands?"

"W-well, I can…but, well." Morgan paused, an embarrassed look crossing his face. "It's getting dark in a little bit, and I figured that you would want to come back to the castle soon…"

"It's that late already?" Lucina gazed up through the branches to see sunrays from the west, slowly dimming. "Fine, let's go."

The two set off at a comfortable pace through the forest, with just the chirping of birds to keep them company.

"Morgan?"

Morgan turned to look at his sister, who had stopped walking. "Yes?"

"What do you think your going to do after this?"

"After…do you mean when mother returns?"

"…When mother returns, yes." Lucina's voice had a troubled undercurrent resting just beneath her words, and one Morgan was all too tired of hearing.

"Lucina, mother won't lose to Grima." Morgan said. "She's stronger then Grima. She already beat Grima. When she decides to return to us, we can go on being a happy family. Grima's brand will change to her brand, and you wont ever have to put on that eye patch again."

Lucina bristled at this. "Just change overnight? Morgan, that cursed brand has been Grima's for a thousand years! The meaning won't just change because Robin decides to not take over the world!"

"Yes it will! Mother will still be mother, it will be her symbol, people will recognize it, and you'll be able to show that you're her daughter for everyone to see with pride!"

"Pride?" Lucina snarled. "Morgan did you just forget-" Lucina cut herself short, but quickly restarted. "Morgan. That mark was the mark of the dragon that destroyed the entire world. It killed all of our parents, all our friends, everyone. It tortured me through my eye for years on end. And then when Grima finally dies, the damned thing sees fit to brand me with its mark as one final insult. Do you think for even a second that I will ever wear the fell dragons mark with pride of all things!?"

A tense silence filled the air while Morgan processed his sister words. Time passed, and he turned his gaze away from his sister as two continued to walk.

"You didn't answer my question, you know."

The siblings did not stop walking. "What question?"

"What are you going to do after this?"

"…Help out mother and father?"

"Won't that become rather complicated once there are two of you around?"

"Like what?"

Lucina did miss a beat. "Some sort of drama about the true heir, hurting your younger self with some self fulfilling prophecy thata you swore you would stop yourself from doing if you ever had the chance to erase it from history? If mother and father just don't have time for you in between their duty and our younger selves?"

"You seem to have been thinking about this a lot."

"I never thought about it until now."

"How come?"

"Everything else always seemed more important. You remember how little time there was in-between battles once we reached Valm?"

"Yeah." Morgan smiled at the fond memories he had made in the campaign. "Those moments with everyone were the best. Everyone had memories of me, and it was great to get to know them; again I suppose."

Lucina hummed in agreement. But repeated: "What are you going to do after this is all over?"

"I guess…I'll decide when the time comes."

The two siblings exited the forest without any more conversation.

* * *

Morgan stood along the hall, giddy with excitement. Mother had finally returned to the castle! She had spent last night with father, and all the while Morgan had been barely able to lie still in his bed, remaining awake for hours from the excitement he felt with the news. When he finally fell asleep, dawn was edging onto the horizon.

It had come at a good time, to. Lucina's words had been bothering him for weeks, and Morgan still couldn't think of what it was he wanted to after mother ahd returned and everything settled down. He had asked all of his friends, but for the most part, they all felt that they did not quite belong.

Even so, Morgan woke early. As he leapt out of bed, Morgan searched for his mother's presence with all the frightened haste of a child on the day their parents returned from war. Sure enough, his mother was easy to locate. She was in the young Lucina's room. With his destination in mind, Morgan sprang out of his bedroom and dashed down the castle corridors, dashing and swerving past everyone who came between him and his mother.

As he approached Lucina's nursery, he sensed her older self's presence in his Mother's wake. Morgan's mad dash slowed down until he stopped next to his mother barrier. It was not a physical barrier, almost anyone could pass right through it if they wanted to, but it dissuaded everyone from trying to do it. Servants just changed direction when they came to the hallway.

Lucina began to move away from their mother in a hurried pace. Morgan took this as his opportunity to finally talk to mother, and began to walk. As passed through the barrier, Lucina turned the last corner separating the two, and stopped in her tracks.

"Morgan…" as she spoke, her two eyes looked dully at Morgan. Morgan found the look to be unnerving in a way he could not understand.

"Hello, Lucina," Morgan began. "How is mother?"

Lucina continued to stare at Morgan. "…Robin is fine."

Morgan's brow furrowed. "…Robin? Why aren't you calling her mother?"

"Because she's not our mother. Our mother died years ago."

Morgan was frowning now. "What are you talking about? Lucina, mother is just down the hall, you were in the same room…"

"I have decided that Robin is not my mother." Lucina replied.

Morgan's voice took on a panicked tone. "Decided! Lucina, you can't just decide that someone isn't your mother! She gave birth to us, and raised us, and-"

"Firstly," Lucina's dull, yet hostile tone cut through Morgan's words. "Robin did not give birth to either of us. She gave birth to the girl in that room."

"So? She's still the same person who raised us! That little girl is going to grow up to be you!"

"The entire point of this trip through time was to make sure she didn't have to be me." Lucina noted dryly.

"Just a month ago you were calling her mother!"

"And in that time I have changed my mind on the matter."

Morgan was growing increasingly frustrated. "You can't just do this! You can't just throw mother away like she never meant anything to you, you missed her just as much as I did!"

"Mother meant just as much to me as she meant to you!" Lucina snapped at Morgan. Her features relaxed as she collected herself with a breath, and she continued.

"I tried to see Robin as the Mother from my memories. I really did. I even succeeded. But unlike Father and everyone else, she was different in the past then she was in my memory. She is…less arrogant. Less confident."

"Mother is plenty confident!"

"Not like she was. I remember her willing to fight half a dozen soldiers at once just to prove she was better then everyone else in the army. She was aggressive, and would take what she wanted in court, uncaring of any noble's objections." Lucina seemed wistful now, lost in her childhood memories.

"But Robin is not mother. Because of her lost memories, she is…far kinder. She wants everyone to win. Not just herself."

"…Then why don't you want her to be your mother?" asked Morgan, a confused look on his face.

Lucina blinked back to reality. "…She insists that I should not forget my past."

"…That's it?" Morgan asked. "Just of that, you can't accept her as mother? Besides, couldn't you just think of both Robin's as your mother? It's not like-"

"No." Lucina cut off Morgan with venom in her voice.

"Lucina…this whole future mother and present mother thing, its all an excuse. this is just about Grima isn't it?"

"No. But Grima certainly helps that conclusion." Lucina answered with dead certainty, her voice sharpened by an old hate.

"I am going to leave Ylisstol soon for the outrealms. You and anyone else are free to come along."

With those final words, Lucina swept by Morgan and disappeared into the castle. Morgan continued to stand in the corridor with his eyes on the floor, frustration at his sister and her refusal to see their mother for who she truly was swelling in his mind, until finally-

"Morgan?"

Morgan's eyes shot up, and Robin greeted him. His frustration instantly vanished, and his face lit up in a smile. "Mother!" Morgan rushed over to Robin and hugged her with all his might.

"Ah- Morgan, its good to see you too, please notsotight-"

"Oh. Heh heh." Morgan quickly released his vice-like grip. "Sorry about that, mother."

"It's fine." Robin smiled at him with her red eyes aglow. "I'm sorry for causing so much trouble for you."

"No, no! You never caused any trouble for me at all!" Morgan reassured Robin. "It's just that Lucina-well-she…"

Robin's face became inquisitive. "I heard your argument."

Morgan nodded his head, his previous frustrations showing on his face. "She just…she won't accept that you're not Grima. She's stuck in the past, and its…" Morgan struggled to find the right words.

"Frustrating?" Robin supplied.

"Yes! She won't listen to me, and now she going to leave…" Morgan trailed off, as an impending sense of loneliness started to take him. "…And I think that everyone else from the future children are going with her…"

"Your afraid of being left behind by everyone?" Robin asked.

"Yeah…I talked to all of them, and they were all thinking about leaving when you came back…"

"Why don't you go with them then?"

Morgan's eyes shot open, and nearly shouted. "No, no, no, no, no! I could never leave you, Mother! I've always had you, you've always been there for me, I can't leave you!"

"Oh…" Robin looked taken aback, rendered slack jawed by Morgan's declaration. "Well… Morgan, how should I put this…"

"Yes?" Morgan asked anxiously.

"What would you have done if I died?"

The question hit Morgan like a ton of bricks. "What!? Mother, you're the strongest person in all of the Shepherds! You would never die!"

"We were fighting battles against Walhart's forces for quite some time, along with Grimleal fanatics, and then against Grima. The thought never crossed your mind that I might die by any of those-?"

"No!" Morgan gave a panicked cry. Why was she asking all these questions? What had he done to make her think such horrible things? "Am I annoying you mother? Do you want me to leave you to yourself or father or-"

"Morgan, calm down!" Robin shouted, and he immediately stopped, with an unusual speed. "S-sorry, mother."

"You did nothing wrong, Morgan." Robin said, as she put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm not angry at you." Morgan's posture did not relax.

"Morgan, what's wrong?" Robin asked with a concerned tone.

"Luncina said…" Morgan took a breath and exhaled. "She said…that you're not our real mother, that our mother died to Grima."

"Yes, I heard." Robin. "That's her decision. She came to that decision in front of me, and I will not force her to say otherwise."

"But, I know that you're my mother…and just because I don't have many memories of you, that doesn't change the fact that I know you are my mother."

Robin looked him in the eye. "As long as you want me to, I will always be here for you Morgan. As long as you want me to be your mother, even if I did not give birth to you, I will be here."

Morgan reached to hug his mother, which she fully returned. Mother and son stayed embraced for what felt like hours until his mother released her hold.

"But, you are still conflicted about her and the others leaving. You made friends with many of the future children." Robin said. Morgan nodded. "And you don't want to leave them or I." Another nod. "I'll always be here for you Morgan. You are free to go with them. Whenever you want to return for a visit, or any other reason, I will be here to great you." Morgan remained quiet. "Think about it for a while."

"…I think…" Morgan spoke uncertainly, his eyes fixed on the ground. "That would be the first time, I'll have ever left your side, as far as I can remember."

"I had that choice made for me twice. Both you and your sister deserve to make it yourselves."

"Thanks for your kind words, Mother." Morgan smiled, and Robin returned it.

"I'm here whenever you need me."

His mother was comforting as she always was, but Morgan was still uncertain of what he was going to do. But he had time to decide that, plenty of time. Besides, even if Lucina was leaving soon, Robin had returned to him, and for Morgan, that was all that mattered.

* * *

I can't help but feel that this chapter and chapter two are missing something, but I can't quite figure what that is. any help would be greatly appreciated.


	4. Robin

All properties used belong to their owners.

* * *

Robin walked towards the Shepherds quarters, preparing herself for the next set of questions that would no doubt consume most of her time for years to come. "Is it really you?" "What's going to happen now?" "I can't trust you!"

She sighed. Robin could not shake away the worry that many of the shepherds would have a similar reaction to Lucina, fearing her for her now inseparable connection to Grima's name. Still, they were her comrades and friends, and disserved to know what she now was. And really, she placed far to little faith in them. They could just as easily be accepting.

The people of Ylisse however would be a different matter entirely. If her new status got out to the halidom, then it would undoubtedly take years, perhaps decades, for the general population to come to terms with her. Robin hoped that none of her friends decided to open that can of worms. Such a claim could also insight the entirety of Plegia into another religious war that she would have to stop. Even if it would be a simple as telling them to stop, that was trouble that didn't need to happen.

Still, Robin had a very long time to try and resolve any and all issues her friends had with her. Lucina was already first on that list, but contacting her could be quite difficult. Her daughter's impending disappearance had weighed heavily on Robin's mind, but she could not bring herself to stop the girl. Robin could see quite a bit of herself before she had consumed Grima in Lucina.

Robin had changed enormously over the past month. With Grima's power, so to had her long lost memories reappeared, filling in the blanks of her past. She remembered her childhood. She remembered Plegia. She remembered her mother, who spirited her away from a adolescence inside the Grimleal, to be raised as a willing sacrifice to Grima, and she had remembered her father, Validar.

Robin had not lied to Lucina, her memories of her family before she and her mother escaped were happy, sweet things. Validar always acted like any father and husband should have, and doted on her every moment he could. It had been a jarring shift from her encounters with him later. But in the end, a long forgotten pull to the land of Robin's birth and a sense of responsibility to those who now prayed to her had led Robin to accepting her heritage, something she would never forget again.

Lucina was angry and frustrated, far angrier then Robin had ever been. For now, it would simply be best to let her wayward daughter cool her head, and try to make up with her.

Away from that painful topic, Robin supposed she would have to speak with Naga sooner or later. It would be useful for the two to properly discuss their relationship as two dragon-gods no longer in hostility with each other. The lineage of Grima and her champion was now one, and what that meant for the future generations was a curious puzzle to solve. Perhaps the religious tensions between the two countries would fade away with the new union of bloodlines, or perhaps be the point to incite more.

It seemed that Robin and Chrom's marriage would be one that would forever change the world, the political ramifications of her newfound godhood and lost past would undoubtedly bind Plegia and Ylisse together one way or another. Now that she thought about it, Robin's almost joking suggestion that Lucina take Plegia's throne seemed like a far more complicated process then she first thought.

And Robin was going to live through it all. The inevitability of everything seemed far more pronounced now that she was going to live forever. Lucina would grow up, and when Chrom grew older, their daughter would take the throne. Chrom would age. And then he would die, one way or another. And then Lucina would too, as would her children, and theirs, forever. Her friends would all suffer the same fate, save for Tiki, Nowi, and Nah. And even then, they and their kin could perish in battle, something not even Naga could do to Robin now.

Robin supposed this was what being Naga was like. Still, Robin now had power beyond reconing. If that power could prevent her friends and families cruel fates, then she would not rest until they received everlasting happiness.

But what of the children who would be born generations from now? Naga certainly did not put much visible interest in protecting those of exalted blood from the ravages of time or war.

Just another thing to speak about, Robin supposed. She was getting ahead of herself, all this thought of what she was going to generations from now, Lucina's death, Chrom aging- all that would be years from now, and time still moved at the same pace it always had. Robin still had time to figure this all out what she was going to do about all this later. Right now, she had to reintroduce herself to her friends and sort that mess out.

"It will be just like when I first awoke," Robin muttered to herself. "Plenty of people to meet, plenty of problems to create, and plenty more to solve." With those words, Robin stepped forward towards the future.

* * *

And…that's the end. It feels as if to continue this story would just be a pain for everyone, as I find myself out of ideas for new interactions between Robin and everyone else, and I wouldn't want this to become a story on constant repeat (the feeling started at the end of chapter two, I think). I would like to thank you all for reading this story, as well as the reviewers who helped me fix some of the more jarring mistakes (I have no doubt there are hundreds more waiting in the wings).

Thank you all for reading, and I hope we meet many times more.


End file.
